Carlito's Way: Rise to Power by Edwin Torres Read Free Book Online Page B

Sessions that afternoon. Murder in the first degree; I could get the electric chair, Jesus! No bail, they hold me in the Tombs. Tombs is right—couldn’t take a shower, place smells bad, food worse.
    The word is that I am in good shape—all they got is a bus driver who says he saw me chasing a guy into the park with something in my hand but he’s not sure what. Guiso’s going to say he saw me around his joint that night but didn’t see me at the time of the shooting and that he dove to the floor without looking as soon as he heard the first bang. The guns were never found and to add to theconfusion, ballistics is going to show Chucho and Nelson were shot with different guns, like there was more than one guy shooting. They got no statement out of me since I come in with my lawyer. Earl tells me that Nelson is all right—he don’t know who did what, all he knows he was shot. I don’t go for this, I say wash Nelson, but Rocco says it will look bad, so I go along with them.
    Meanwhile, I got troubles with my fuckin’ lawyer. He’s getting big bucks and he ain’t doing shit. I got to lead him by the hand all the way. They are like these doctors who ask you what’s wrong with you; if you know, what the hell you need them for? Shit. I break it all down for the lawyer—all the motions I want made— I want all the statements from all the witnesses, I want the ballistics reports, I want the autopsy report. I want the yellow sheets on all the prosecution witnesses, I want the case dismissed for lack of prosecution—the lawyer says that ain’t got no merit ’cause I ran away. Ran away, shit, who ran away? I wasn’t there, I just went to Cuba for a vacation—and if I was there I ran away from the same gang of guys that shot Chucho and Nelson, I ran for my life. This old con Walter, down from Dannemora on his own writ, told me what I had to do. He should know, he’s been drawing writs for twenty years.
    Me and Walter got together and wrote a summation for my case. Walter would sound off in the tank,
    “Ladeez and genulmens of the ju-ree, yo’all is here to dee-termine iffen dis here boy be innercent or he be guilty. Now you got to know that this be important to the dee-fendant—now right away the Dee Ay gonna say thatthe case is important to the peoples too. Now what kind of nonsense is that? The peoples cain’t go to jail, the peoples cain’t go to the ’lectric chair, is only this here boy can go—so damn sho’ more important to him! The judge he gonna tell you about reasonable doubts—ah say ain’t no reason to doubt that this boy be innercent. Ain’t no haps here, ain’t even per haps. Now what went down here—I’m gonna tell yo’all.
    “De deceased, may his soul rest in peace, he were a villain—he done been busted for everythin’ in the book—assault, robbery, burglary, dope, and even unlawful entry on a young lady. He weren’t nothin’ but a dirty dawg. He was uptown—whut wuz he doin’ uptown? I’ll tell you whut—he was gorillaing peoples, mugging peoples—innercent hardwerking peoples like the defendant—that’ whut he was doing. Ain’t nobody gonna miss that mother—I’m gonna say it—that Chucho deserved killin’. That don’t mean the defendant killed him, but he deserved it. Now the Dee Ay gonna say my man here killed Chucho. That be a dirty lie. Iffen he was there he didn’t kill no Chucho, and ah ain’t sayin’ he was there—iffen he was there he was runnin’ fo’ dear life—they was shootin’ goin’ on in that joint— yessir, Chucho’ll tell you that—whut’s a man to do but run? Sheet, ah hear pop, pop, mah feet gonna run right out from under me. You people got to hip up that this weren’t no Waldorf-Astoria, this were Harlem—it’s mean out there. Now Guiso, he didn’t see nuthin’, he hit the dirt—I don’t blame him, but you think iffen he saw who shot up his customers he wouldn’ say? Damnright he would, but he ain’t gonna lie—he don’t